Objective：To study the level of inhibitory member of the ASPP family (iASPP) in invasive lobular breast carcinoma (ILBC) and its clinical significance.
Methods：The expression of iASPP-mRNA in the ILBC was analyzed by RT-PCR, then the average optional density of RT-PCR products was assayed by Quality one soft-ware. The relationship between the level of iASPP-mRNA and clinical pathological factors was analyzed.
Results：The iASPP-mRNA was expressed in 34 cases of ILBC (87.2%), but there were no expression in adjacent tissues of the tumor. The expression of iASPP-mRNA in cancer tissues was markedly higher than that in adjacent tissues (P＜0.01).  There  was significant difference between the  patients aged≤45 years group and ＞45 years group (P＜0.01), between TNM stage Ⅲ、Ⅳ cases and stage Ⅰ、Ⅱ cases (P＜0.01), and between lymph node metastasis cases and none lymph node metastasis cases (P＜0.01). There was no difference between the expression of iASPP-mRNA and the expression of estrogen receptor (ER) or progesterone receptor (PR).
Conclusions：iASPP-mRNA is over-expressed in ILBC, and the detection of iASPP may be useful in the diagnosis, individual treatment and predicting the prognosis of ILBC.